[Foreign language]Sehr geehrte Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre, meine Damen und Herren. Ich heiße Sie herzlich willkommen zur ordentlichen Generalversammlung der Sika AG und ich danke für Ihr Interesse. Bereits vor der Aufhebung der wesentlichen Schutzmaßnahmen im Zusammenhang mit dem Coronavirus hat der Verwaltungsrat entschieden, dass eine physische Teilnahme an dieser Generalversammlung leider nicht funktionieren.[Foreign language] As much as we regret this, we still are happy to announce that besides the possibility of watching our AGM live online, shareholders also have the option to ask their questions at the AGM orally via an online platform. I'm looking forward to meeting some of you live, at least on screen. With me here on the podium today are Thomas Hasler, our CEO, Adrian Widmer, our CFO, as well as Stefan Mösli, our General Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Directors. We will now begin with the constitution of today's AGM.
With the publication in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce on 11th of March 2022, as well as by written notification, which was sent off on the 11th of March 2022, the invitation for this AGM was carried out in due form and time in accordance with the law and our articles of association. The invitation contained all the points of discussion today, as well as motions of the board of directors. Starting with 11th of March 2022, the annual report, auditor's report, and the compensation report were available at the company seat for perusal for shareholders. In the invitation, we also pointed out the possibility that every shareholder has to receive these documents personally from Sika. Our annual report was also available for perusal from 18th of February 2022 onwards, and if necessary, could also be downloaded and printed out.
Upon the invitation of the company in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce of eighteenth of February 2022, there were no requests for additional agenda items that we received within the due term. The minutes of the last ordinary general meeting were signed by the Chairman and the minute taker. They were also available for perusal at the seat of the company and were also published online. In accordance with our articles of association, the Chairman of the Board of Directors will chair this AGM. Mr. Stefan Mösli will be our minute taker and vote teller today. In that context, I would like to point out that the AGM is being recorded on video and, as already mentioned, will be broadcast live online as a web stream. The minutes of the AGM will be available on our website, and if so wished, will be sent to shareholders.
The auditors, Ernst & Young AG, are represented today by Christoph Mächel and Stefan Peier . The independent voting proxy is Mr. Jost Windlin, lawyer and notary public in Zug, whom I also welcome here today. As already mentioned, it is not possible to physically take part in this year's AGM. Instead, shareholders had the possibility to take part in today's general meeting by means of electronically issued powers of attorney or instructions to the independent voting proxy. Participation by these means or any possible amendments to instructions already given could be submitted until no later than Sunday, 10th of April 2022 at 11:59 P.M. As was already the case in the previous year, shareholders also had the possibility to register via an online platform for this year's AGM in order to orally put questions during the meeting.
All shareholders that registered for this option received the appropriate link to the online platform prior to the AGM, and they will be called out by name at the appropriate time to bring forward the questions directly, and they will also be visible in the live stream. In that context, I would like to point out one more time that shareholders' rights can only be exercised via the independent voting proxy prior to today's AGM. Exercising these rights via the online platform is therefore not possible. Finally, at this point, I would like to thank Mr. Dominik Slappnig and his team for organizing today's event.
I hereby take note of the fact that today's annual general meeting has been invited in due form according to the law and our articles of association, that it has been properly constituted and is therefore quorate for all agenda items. At today's meeting, we will proceed according to the agenda that you see here. After I say something about the strategy, we will continue with the statutory part under agenda item one. Our CEO, Thomas Hasler, will look back at the business year 2021, sales in the first quarter of 2022, and also at an outlook for the business year 2022. Subsequently, Mr. Jean de Martres, our Africa area manager, will give you an overview of Sika's successful business activities and the normal growth potential in Africa. The business year 2021 was, of course, very much characterized by a recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Unlike the previous year, much less of our country subsidiaries were affected by lockdowns. However, there were still bottlenecks in global delivery chains, and this was particularly noticeable in the automotive industry. Thanks to excellent management and a proximity to our markets, we were able to over proportionally recover and profit by this recovery and once again present very solid figures. We were able to increase our sales by over 17% to CHF 9.25 billion in the reporting year. Net profits also grew over proportionally by more than 27%, and that means that for the first time in the history of our company, we were at more than CHF 1 billion net profit. These new record figures show that we are successful in continuing our course of growth.
Further details on the reporting year will be presented to you by CEO Thomas Hasler under the agenda item annual report. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the entire board of directors to thank all employees at Sika for their great commitments in the past year. We are very aware that all these excellent figures were only possible thanks to your extraordinary dedication. Our growth strategy and our decentralized organization also proved themselves very successful in this year. The Sika strategy stands solidly on six pillars and is clearly geared towards growth. The opportunities that arise from sustainability, innovation, digitization, and acquisitions, we are able to leverage efficiently. Our goals are ambitious, and we are transparent in our communication, as you can see on this slide.
The strategic process is also very deeply anchored in our organization, and our 100 national subsidiaries are already integrated into the development phase. Thus, we are able to achieve a very high identification with the strategic priorities of the group. The implementation of the strategy is facilitated and accelerated by this. It takes place locally within the national subsidiaries with a focus on our defined target markets. Ultimately, that means we are working on over 800 strategic opportunities. This means that our national subsidiaries also have a huge lever effect on the realization of business potentials in acquisitions, which is one important part of our strategy. Most of our acquisitions are smaller local companies that help us strengthen our position in local markets and also show a great suitability for synergies. In the past year, we were able to successfully conclude 7 such acquisitions.
These local acquisitions are supported by larger strategic projects at group level, such as, for example, the acquisition of Parex that was completed in 2019, or the acquisition of MBCC, the former, construction chemicals branch of BASF that was announced late last year. The acquisition of MBCC is the largest acquisition in the history of Sika. With a market potential of approximately CHF 80 billion, this offers us immense possibilities for growth. Our sales will increase by approximately CHF 3 billion, and we will be able to welcome approximately 7,500 new employees into the Sika family. In such major acquisitions, besides strategic aspects, we are always also looking at the compatibility of the corporate cultures. We want to be sure that despite our dynamic, our decentralized, modus operandi, we still keep this, entrepreneurial spirit alive.
This is the basis of our high agility and our customer centricity and a decisive competitive edge. This is the reason that already during the planning of the acquisition, the value, or corporate values of MBCC organization were taken into account. In the meantime, there has been a survey at management at both Sika and MBCC, which confirmed that there was a high level of agreement between the values and the preferred ways of working in both companies. This is a very good condition for a smooth integration and the further development of our corporate culture. We are currently still working on clearances relating to some antitrust laws, and we expect this acquisition to be concluded in the course of the second half of 2022.
With the fusion of these two companies, we will also become a key player for more sustainability in the construction industry. Sustainability has already been an important part of our strategy for a long time. We always focus especially on the reduction of our CO2 emissions and a responsible use of our limited natural resources. For example, today, more than half of the electricity used by us comes from renewable sources, and we were able to lower the CO2 emission per sold ton by a further 10%. Also, the use of water and waste, we could realize a reduction of almost 10%. New sustainability goals with a net zero roadmap will be presented during the Investors Day on October 4th, 2022. To give even more weight to sustainability, we have taken some important organizational decisions last year.
The most important being giving the responsibility for innovation and sustainability on group management level under the responsibility of one person. This newly created position was assumed on first of November by Ms. Patricia Heidtman. Henceforth, starting with this AGM, we will also install a sustainability committee at management level consisting of experts, and they will be able to support the board of directors in all matters concerning responsibility for sustainability. That means that this topic will be broadly anchored throughout all levels and functions in the company. Sustainability has been a key value for Sika for decades already. It's part of our strong corporate culture and is at the same level as innovation, customer and solution centricity, integrity, and respect.
Despite the accelerated pace of acquisitions in the last years, we have been able to safeguard these strong values in our organization and to keep cultivating them. Long-term sustainable thinking and acting will pay off for us as Sika and you as shareholders. Thus we were able to keep increasing our sales and the profits during the last years on a constant basis and very reliably. You as shareholders were able to benefit from the dividends that were rising each year and the positive share price developments. Once again, at this AGM, we are proposing a raise of the dividend by 60% to CHF 2.90 per share. I thank you at this point on behalf of group management and the board of directors for your trust and would like to carry on to the statutory part of today's meeting.
As at the annual general meeting today, no physical presence of shareholders is possible. The independent proxy represents all votes represented. The total number of votes represented by the independent proxy is 104,674,949. Treasury shares held by Sika and its subsidiaries are not entitled to voting and are not being represented. According to our articles, the AGM passes resolutions and carries out elections based on the absolute majority of votes represented, excluding abstentions and void and invalid votes, unless otherwise provided by the law or the articles. The number of yes votes, the number of no votes, and the number of abstentions on the individual votes will be announced on each item. This brings us to the items on today's agenda. Here you can see the items of the AGM today.
You will also have found them in the invitation. For this reason, I will not read them out to you. Let's begin with item number one, approval of the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for 2021. At the media conference on February 18th, 2022, we have already extensively reported on the 2021 financial year. For further details on the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for 2021, let me refer you to detailed indications in the 2021 annual report of Sika AG. Our CEO, Thomas Hasler, is now going to give you a report on business development in the year under review and in Q1 of 2022. Thomas, over to you.
Thank you. It's a great pleasure for me for the first time to speak at the AGM and present the 2021 financial figures. It was a record year.
Same as in the previous year, but it was a very special year with a lot of challenges, as mentioned before. Yet, we were able to increase our sales by more than 17%, as promised within the scope of the 2023 strategy. We lifted the EBIT margin and the net profit figure for the first time crossed the threshold of CHF 1 billion, increasing by 27.1%, which is in line with our claim for disproportionately increasing profitability. In the year under review, we also made strategic investments. On the one hand, for organic expansion by four additions or new factories being set up, plus seven acquisitions that were completed, and MBCC, which is a deal which we signed and is now being processed in cooperation with authorities. We also added another country, the 101st country. That's Ghana.
That celebrated its opening in the year under review. Innovation is an important part of our strategy. 99 patents were filed, and we registered 150 inventions. Here is an overview of the figures, and this goes to show that we grew by 17.5% disproportionately, adding to EBIT and net profit. Growth in 2021 was widely distributed among all the regions, the Americas standing out, accounting for more than 20% of growth. Asia, just under 20%, and EMEA at 16%, still a remarkable figure. Global business, our business with the automotive industry, continued to suffer from the impact of the shortage of semiconductors, rising by only 4.3%. Now for a 3-year review. You can nicely see how our strategy continued to be successful consistently despite the difficulties in the global economy.
CAGR of 10% + and 15%, just under 15% at EBIT level. Despite the difficulties in the supply chain, this is a clear sign that we are strong in supplying even in difficult times. Let me focus on three growth drivers which enable us to produce such results. The trend for sustainable construction and environmentally friendly construction continues in an unabated fashion, which is good for our company. Our products enable everyone to construct in a CO2 reduced form. We are reducing 80 kilograms of CO2 for concrete or 150 kg of CO2 for cement. The transformation of the construction industry helps us to produce sustainable results. It's also a matter of our products being more durable. Structures needn't be renewed for a longer period of time, and that's also an important part of our contribution to sustainability.
Decarbonization is also an important matter. Last year, we presented our reCO2ver project for concrete recycling with great benefits for the industry. Energy efficiency drives our business. This is about improving structures energetically to such a manner that less energy is required for cooling or for heating. This applies to windows, facades, roofs, and waterproofing in general. Digitalization is another trend. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clearly reinforced and meant that new sales channels arose. Sales channels such as pure internet players like Amazon benefiting from this fact that conventional distributors were not in a position to open their businesses, but digital channels were open for supply. What is also key to us is the fact that B2B activities to more increasingly transfer to eShop levels.
There are more digital solutions to our clients that we drive ahead to offer novel solutions that to create added values, added value to our clients. An important success factor for us are our 27 employees around the world. This is the key to success to our company. Our strategy thrives on the back of our employees, and I would like to thank all our employees for their great support. No matter what the situation is, they're agile, they're pragmatic, they're adjusted to local conditions, sharing our strategy, supporting our strategy, preparing our success. Let me now briefly comment on Q1 in 2022. We presented the figures this morning. We have strong sales growth of 21.9% local currencies to almost CHF 2.4 billion.
This despite a negative currency effect of -1.9%, it's still a 20%+, and only 4% of that is due to acquisitions, whereas the balance of 16% is organic growth, primarily driven by prices, but there's also volume increases that contributed to it. Further, we pursued our acquisition strategy in Canada. We acquired Sable Marco and integrated this company, reinforcing our retail business in Canada and Quebec, in particular. In Q1, we also divested our European industrial coatings business, which was a step for us to focus on our core markets and to give this business a new and better future with the buyer. Furthermore, we made organic investments, in particular in new factories, new plants in Tanzania and Ivory Coast. As I mentioned before, as far as sustainability is concerned, we are extremely active.
On the capital market day, we're going to present our net zero roadmap. Our activities are on track, and we will report on them in due course. To give you an overview, here you can see how the regions fared. Starting into the year, they're all in the double-digit figures. Even the global business figure. Global business shows better figures than last year, although markets continue to be impacted by restricted supply capability of subcontractors or suppliers, in particular in Europe. The Americas added 36%. This due to strong volume growth versus just under 20% in EMEA and Asia Pacific. Moving on to our outlook for 2021. We confirm our outlook that we presented at the balance sheet media conference in February.
We are convinced that sales growth will be well over 10% over the year, and we're going to surpass ten billion Swiss francs for the first time. Our aim continues to be to produce a disproportionate EBIT increase for 2022. We are confirming our strategic targets of 2023 for the 2023 strategy for sustainable, profitable growth. On October 4, on our capital markets day, we're going to present our net zero roadmap as announced before, based on our sustainability targets. Let me hand back to you, Paul.
Thank you very much, Thomas. As is tradition at the AGM, we also provide insight in one of our specific growth initiatives. For this year, we have chosen Africa as the subject matter.
The Africa Area Manager, Jean de Martres, is going to tell us a few things about the strategy and the potential involved. Jean is going to speak English, and the slides will be shown in German. The floor is yours, Jean.
Dear Chairman, dear board members, dear Thomas, and dear attendees, and dear colleagues, I am extremely happy and thankful to have this opportunity to represent the African continent today, and to speak on behalf of the 1,200 employees from all over the 18 countries where Sika is present. Sika in Africa has been developed since 2014 in opening 10 new national subsidiaries and is now present in 18 countries. Sika operates 22 production sites and generates sales of CHF 300 million. The market share has been able to triple over the last 6 years, and now we cover 85% of the potential of the market in Africa with this footprint. The last incorporated company was in Ghana at the end of 2021. This continent has megatrends and opportunities.
The population in Africa is expected to double by 2040 and to come above 2 billion people. 70% of these people earn daily income. That is to give an idea of the difficulties and the challenge that people have to live in this continent. Just to have a reference, the average GDP per capita in Africa is $4,000 per inhabitant. It's EUR 25,000 in Spain, and it's CHF 80,000 in Switzerland. This continent has huge natural resource, but this continent also needs a lot of infrastructure in energy, health, power, and real estate. This requires high demand in international construction and high standards in some cases.
Just to give an idea of the potential and the different segments of the project which we have to address in this continent, we have in the range of $300 billion of projects which has been developed or which will be developed in 2022, mainly in transport, energy, power, real estate, water management, a lot of needs in this area, shipping, ports, healthcare, and education. This enormous market needs and potential relates also to a population, as I mentioned, which is enormously growing. Six of the 41 mega cities by 2023 will be located in Africa. A city like Lagos in Nigeria, which is 17 million inhabitants, will double its population by 2030. Of course, the needs are enormous in terms of wastewater treatment.
If we compare Africa with Germany, we can see that we talk about 5x the needs of a mature country. In terms of needs of roads, we also have a lot of potential to address. Of course, in terms of vehicles, we talk about a ratio of 10x less than in mature countries. In this continent, Sika has been able to develop opportunities and high standard in construction and waterproofing systems. SikaProof has been one of the example where we have been able to develop in 7 countries more than 20 projects with 200,000 sq m of SikaProof membranes applied in Africa. Building up also business from scratch has been a challenge and has been also a success, like in grinding aids, which are admixture for cement industry.
This has been possible because of the technical know-how, because of the dedication of a business developer who has the know-how to organize the value selling. This trend will continue. We started from scratch to reach 35% market share in this business of grinding aids, with more than CHF 20 million this year, and we continue to penetrate this market. Of course, Sika is also part of the landmark project on the continent. An example is the Mohammed VI tower in Morocco with a lot of highly stringent environmental standards. A building which requires 100-year service life with a lot of seismic constraints. This, of course, constitutes a very nice reference for Sika on the continent.
I would say the most important our is our people and employees, our engagement to the people in terms of training, in terms of taking care of the diversity of the culture. This continent has seven official languages, but there are more than 2,000 dialects. We have developed also a concept of an academy in the continent with more than 500 sessions in 2021, where we train internal people. We train also external stakeholders. We rely on developing talents from a period where Sika was not very well-known on the continent, what I call a pioneer age.
We became an attractive, successful organization. Of course, the community engagement and our social responsibility takes a very important place, and we develop projects across all the countries where we value the time of our employees and the products that we can provide to develop project in every country. As a conclusion, Sika is a technical sales organization. We need to continue to focus on the market penetration. We expect to pursue the double-digit growth. We have to monitor, of course, our competition. We need to be out in the field, on the market, with the customer, to be outside-in rather than inside-out, and we expect to develop very strong entrepreneur and manager, senior manager, for Sika all over the place.
With this, I will thank you on behalf of the 1,200 employees for the trust and the support that you provide to Sika to deliver our ambitious strategy. Thank you.
Thank you, Jean, for your presentation. I think
Yeah. I think we can all see that Africa offers tremendous growth opportunities to us, and we are in an excellent position to make use of these opportunities. We now come back to agenda item one, approval of the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements for 2021. Both of these statements were audited by the statutory auditors, Ernst & Young AG. The appropriate reports of these auditors on both of these statements can be found on pages 260 and 262, and 278-279 of the German version of the annual report. The recommendation of Ernst & Young AG is to approve both the annual financial and consolidated financial statements.
I thank the auditors for their work, and this brings us to the first agenda item. On the basis of the report of the statutory auditors, the board of directors proposes that the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for the year 2021 be approved. We now come to the voting results as communicated by the independent voting proxy. You will see them now on the screen. As you can see, our shareholders have approved both the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements with a large majority. Both of these statements are thereby approved. This brings us to agenda item 2, appropriation of the retained earnings of Sika AG. The AGM has a total of CHF 1.287 billion at their disposal.
The Board of Directors proposes a payout of CHF 465.3 million, which will be carried forward, which results in a carrying forward of CHF 822.5 billion. You can see this dividend proposal in the projection behind me, and it is also included in the invitation to today's AGM, as well as page 277 in the annual report 2021. The auditors confirm that this proposed allocation is in keeping with the law and the articles of association. I will therefore not read out the proposal in detail. The gross dividend of CHF 2.90 per share is proposed by the Board of Directors. We come to the results here as well on agenda item two.
The independent voting proxy has given us the following figures. You, as shareholders, have accepted the proposal of the Board of Directors. This brings us to agenda item three, discharge of the administrative bodies. The Board of Directors proposes that the members of the administrative bodies be discharged. I would, at this point, like to point out that, in accordance with Article 695 of the Swiss Code of Obligations, all persons that took part in any way in the management are not eligible or have no right to vote on this, as are persons who represent voting rights of persons who took part in the business management. We now come to the results for the vote on agenda item three, and they have been communicated as follows. The shareholders have agreed to grant discharge to the administrative bodies.
We thank you. This brings us to agenda item 4. Elections. As already set out in the invitations of this meeting on 11th of March, 2022, Daniel J. Sauter and Christoph Tobler will no longer make themselves re-electable for the board of directors. Both of them were members of the board for many years and made an important contribution to the successful development of Sika. Daniel Sauter was a member of the board since 2000, and since a few years, also a member of the Nomination and Compensation Committee. With more than 20 years working for Sika, he is actually the most longest-serving member of the board. As a financial expert, as a strong leadership personality, and also a very good, very fast thinker, Daniel Sauter made a very important contribution to the work of the board.
This was particularly important during the struggle against the takeover by Saint-Gobain, which lasted several years. He always kept a high level of integrity and always put the well-being of the company first. Daniel J. Sauter, I would like to thank you for all the great work you've done here, and wish you all the best for the future. Christoph Tobler is another member of the board who will resign today after many years of service. He has been a member of the board since 2005, and also a member of the audit committee for many years. As a former member of group management at Sika and as CEO of his family company, Sefar, he was able to bring a lot of industry experience into the board.
We always appreciated his entrepreneurial pragmatism and his broad experience in the areas technology, operations, finance, and strategy. Also, Chris was a very important support during the whole takeover struggle, and despite a high private risk kept fighting for the independence of Sika. Chris, I would also like to thank you for your long activity for the Board of Directors and for your great achievements for the company. I wish you all the best for the future and all the best. Dear Daniel, dear Chris, and after the end of this AGM, we will still give you a proper send-off in a small circle. This brings us to agenda item 4, reelection of the Board of Directors. With the exception of Daniel Sauter and Christoph Tobler, all standing members of the Board of Directors are standing for reelection.
They are all supported in this by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors proposes in accordance with articles 4.11 to 4.16, the reelection of all the following candidates to the Board of Directors. We are taking all these agenda items into one result, and we'll present the results together as communicated to us by the independent voting proxy. I congratulate all my colleagues, and I thank the shareholders for their trust. We now come to agenda item 4.2, election to the Board of Directors of new members. The Board of Directors proposes in accordance with 4.2 the election for the duration of one year of Lucrèce Foufopoulos-De Ridder and Gordana Landén to the Board of Directors.
As you can make out from the CVs, Ms. Lucrèce Foufopoulos-De Ridder has many years of experience in the chemical industry with a special focus on some areas that are very important to us, to wit, technology, sustainability, and customer centricity. Gordana Landén can look back onto a successful career in the area of human resources. Her experiences in the areas of staff development and corporate culture are especially welcome in these times of major acquisitions. I am very pleased that we can present two strong candidates, two strong female candidates as independent, non-executive members. We had a contribution on the topic of this proposal, and I would now welcome Mr. Marc Possa from Pfau Pfau Vermögensverwaltung AG for his contribution.
Thank you very much. Dear board, or dear chairman, and dear members of the board and group management, dear shareholders.
My name is Marc Possa from Uticonom SE. I am representing the Sika shares of the SaraSelect Fund. The group has been a shareholder invested in Sika for more than 20 years already, even though Sika has become a blue chip in the meantime. First of all, I would like to thank all those involved in the very well-focused and decisive implementation of a very logical strategy. Looking through the elections or the proposed elections to the board, I noticed that 2 new female members are being proposed, and I'm definitely, in principle, not somebody who supports the idea of quotas. I believe that in a pyramidal system, such development should come bottom up and not start at the board of directors. I have a few questions, but first of all, I have a few remarks.
Not only is it important to list the professional qualifications of candidates, but also the age of the candidates, even though maybe that would not be the most polite thing to do. This is very important for shareholders to be able to put the achievements into a certain context, chronological context. Well, we have now received portraits of the candidates, but that was not the case previously. It's important to have a picture of somebody because you need to be able to look at a candidate to get an impression of a person. On the topic of the proposed election of Mrs. Foufopoulos, I have a few remarks.
Her professional qualifications as such are excellent and make her look very suitable for Sika, but she seems to have had a rather large number of employers previously, which makes me wonder if she really fits with the Sika culture, which is based, as we all know, on a very high level of loyalty and a very low level of fluctuation. On the recommended election of Gordana Landén, I have the following to say. Also here, we see a relatively high number of different employers, and the more recently, the more frequent there seems to have been a change. As far as her experience at the last company, Adecco, is maybe a little bit questionable from my point of view because for me it is not really the best reference.
This brings my question: Was this really an open search? As Monika Ribar also has said, was it a goal to have at least another woman in the board of directors so that they would be more represented? But isn't there a certain risk in this that, under the increasing pressure of ESG or corporate governance, consultants are maybe too much focused on the quota or ratio and maybe, in doing so, overlook some possibly very suitable male candidates? I thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Possa, for your contribution and your questions. I think your remarks on CV and also on putting portraits in the invitation already are duly noted. I would like to now come to your questions.
As far as the second question is concerned, of course, if you look at quotas or if you do try to implement quotas, this increases the risk of maybe not taking the best decision. This was always a concern and something we are very much aware of, and is also the reason that we only now propose two candidates after. Already since 2019, after the conflict with the family and Saint-Gobain, the renewal of the board of directors was a very important topic. You can surely remember that we were not able to bring any changes into the board for several years, and therefore, we are now trying to make up for lost time.
Since 2019, the head, the nomination committee and myself looked through over 200 dossiers and conducted over 130 interviews. It wasn't just a simple and easy process, and the goal was to staff at least one of the open positions with a candidate. If I look a little bit more back to 2018, right after the whole crisis at the general meetings, we already proposed four new candidates to the board, which were all male candidates. That proves that at that time, there was no discrimination of male candidates. Today, we have two ladies, and if we're talking of four, overall four or six new members, then we have four men and two women. Profile search, this is something we have a special competence matrix for.
As I already mentioned, we are convinced that these two candidates, both professionally speaking, in view of their experience, their competencies, and their personalities, which is always an important factor.
Would perfectly fit into the Board of Sika. I can assure you that we as board, as the corporate body that we are, we're always very aware that the topic quota can always give discussions, but we were very sure that we're not going in that direction by proposing these two candidates. Does this answer your question?
Yes, it does. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your interest and your continued support. We are now going. There's no one else who wants to take the floor. We're going to deal collectively with items 4.2.1 and 4.2.2. The Independent Proxy has reported the following results on item 4.2. Shareholders have approved the Board's proposals. I congratulate Lucrèce and Gordana on election. Welcome them to the Board of Directors of Sika.
I am certain that you will be valuable members of the Board of Directors, supporting the strategic focus of the company, adding value to all the stakeholders. Moving on to item 43, election of the Chairman of the Board. The Board of Directors proposes re-election of myself as the Chairman of the Board for the term of office of one year. Moving on to the results of the vote on the item 43, the independent proxy has communicated the following results to us. Shareholders have approved re-election of myself. Thank you very much for your trust. This brings us on to item 44, which is election of members of the Nomination and Compensation Committee. Our articles provide for the annual general meeting to elect the members of the Nomination and Compensation Committee.
All current members of the Nomination and Compensation Committee, with the exception of Daniel J. Sauter, stand for re-election. The board of directors supports re-election of Justin Howell and Thierry F. Vanlancker, and proposes election of Gordana Landén as a member of the Nomination and Compensation Committee. The board proposes, based on items 441 to 443, to elect for a term of one year, Justin Howell, Thierry F. Vanlancker, and Gordana Landén as members of the Nomination and Compensation Committee. The independent proxy has communicated the following results to us. Thank you very much. Shareholders have approved election of Justin Howell, Thierry F. Vanlancker, and Gordana Landén as members of the Nomination and Compensation Committee. I would like to thank you for your trust. Congratulations to Justin Howell, Thierry F. Vanlancker, and Gordana Landén on their election.
This brings us on to item 45, election of the auditors, statutory auditors. As you can see from the invitation, we are proposing today a change of auditors. Ernst & Young have been our auditors for more than 20 years. Ernst & Young, represented today by Christoph Michael and Stefan Feeren. I would like to thank you very much for the long years of trustful activity and great cooperation. Thank you very much. This brings us to the board's motion. The board proposes to elect KPMG as statutory auditors for the 2021 financial year. Mrs. Paulie and Mr. Wattenhofer present, both of them present here today, have indicated to us that KPMG would be pleased to accept the mandate should the annual general meeting elect them. Let's move on to the results of the vote.
The independent proxy has communicated the following results to us on item 45. Shareholders have elected KPMG as statutory auditors for the 2022 financial year. Congratulations to KPMG and Mrs. Paulie and Mr. Wattenhofer on election of KPMG as statutory auditors. Moving on to item 46, election of the independent proxy. The board of directors proposes re-election of Jost Windlin, a lawyer and notary of Zug, as the independent proxy until the end of the next annual general meeting. Let's proceed to the results. The independent proxy has announced the following results to us. Shareholders have approved the board's proposal, and I would like to congratulate Mr. Windlin on his re-election. This brings us on to item 5, compensation. Beginning with item 51, a consultative vote on the 2021 compensation report. Allow me to make a few remarks.
The 2021 compensation report explains the compensation systems and programs for the Board of Directors and the group management for the 2021 financial year and compensation to the two bodies. The compensation report can be found in the annual report on pages 182 to 202 of the German version. Allow me to make a few comments on the Board of Directors and the group management's compensation systems. In order to maintain independence of the members of the Board of Directors in fulfilling their supervisory duties to the management, they receive fixed compensation only. They do not receive any performance pay and cannot participate in Sika's pension plan.
Compensation is composed of a basic fee for the work on the board and additional compensation for any work in various board committees, plus a lump sum representation expenses for the Board of Directors. For the Chairman of the Board of Directors, the base fee will be paid in cash and in shares locked up for three years, each to the amount of 50%. The additional compensation for board work and the lump sum representation expenses are paid in cash. From the next term, compensation for work on the committees will be paid in cash and in locked up shares, each to the amount of 50%. The compensation model for the group management consists of fixed and variable compensation. Fixed compensation consists of a base salary and fringe benefits, such as participation in the pension plans.
Variable compensation of the members of the group management is tied to corporate success, the result of the business units, and individual performance. By well-balanced combination of the compensation plans, we reward for annual performance and long-term success all at the same time. Furthermore, we measure performance compared to the previous year and compared to similar companies subject to similar market cycles. The performance bonus rewards for annual financial results of the group compared to the market, achievement of sustainability goals, and the results in the business units and individual performance of the members of the group management. The annual performance bonus is capped. The long-term participation plan rewards for long-term corporate performance and reinforces alignment with shareholder interests in the form of entitlements for shares. These entitlements for shares are subject to a three-year term of service.
The definitive number of shares depends on the relative shareholder return during the term of service and the return on capital employed. Maximum payout is capped as well as the performance bonus. The performance bonus and the long-term participation plan includes rules on clawback and forfeiture. In certain circumstances, variable compensation may be forfeited or be clawed back. Furthermore, the members of the group management are expected to build up a minimum stock of Sika shares over time and hold them, and this in alignment with shareholder interests. The Board of Directors are convinced that the compensation model is well-balanced and well-aligned with shareholder interests. Total compensation to the Board of Directors for the 2021 financial year was around CHF 3 million. By comparison to the prior year, it's almost unchanged.
Total compensation paid to the group management for the 2021 financial year in the amount of CHF 15.8 million is somewhat lower compared to the prior year and lower than the maximum aggregate compensation of CHF 19.5 million approved by the shareholders at the annual general meeting in 2022 for the 2021 business year. This brings me to the Board's proposal for the consultative vote. The Board proposes to approve the 2021 compensation report in a non-binding consultative vote. Moving on to the results, the independent proxy has announced the following results to us. Shareholders have approved the 2021 compensation report at a vast majority. Thank you very much. This brings us to compensation of future or approval of future compensation for the Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors proposes a maximum aggregate amount of CHF 3.4 million for the eight board members for the term from the AGM 2022 to the 2023 AGM. You can find explanations on the screen. The amount is composed as follows, CHF 1.6 million for fixed compensation, CHF 1.6 million for share-based compensation, and CHF 200,000 for contributions to Social Security. The maximum agreed amount includes base fees and compensation for work on the board committees. The proposed maximum aggregate amount is CHF 100,000 higher compared to the previous years, in order to take account of compensation for work on the sustainability committee.
The board proposes approval of the total amount of compensation for the Board of Directors, consisting of eight members, of a maximum of CHF 3.4 million for a term of office of one year until completion of the next annual general meeting. This brings us to the results of the vote. The independent proxy has announced these results to us. Shareholders have approved future compensation for the Board of Directors at a vast majority. Thank you very much. Moving on to item 5.3, approval of future compensation for the group management. I want to make a few comments on that. The proposed total amount for the 2023 financial year is CHF 1 million lower than the previous year, and it includes CHF 8.1 million of fixed salaries, including contributions to Social Security and pension schemes and fringe benefits.
CHF 6.2 million for the performance bonus, which will be capped. Actual payment will be made in 2024 and will depend on the degree to which the group management will have achieved its objectives in 2023. Effective payment, actual payment can be lower than the budgeted amount. Furthermore, CHF 6.2 million for allocation of entitlements for Sika shares under the long-term participation plan for the service period from 2023 to 2025. These entitlements, these awards, will only become effective following the service term in 2026, based on actual goal achievement. Again, we assume maximum payout, which will only occur if all the objectives are achieved.
The proposed total amount for the 2023 financial year of CHF 20.5 million Swiss francs was calculated on the basis of the maximum, current maximum compensation of the eight members of the group management, and it includes an amount, a reserve amount, for potential adjustment. The board's proposal is for approval of the total amount compensation for the group management, consisting of eight members, of a maximum of CHF 20.5 million Swiss francs for the 2023 financial year. Let's move on to the results of the vote. The independent proxy has communicated to us the following results. Shareholders have approved future compensation for the group management at a vast majority. I would like to thank you for your trust. This brings us to the conclusion, the end of the annual general meeting of Sika AG today.
Esteemed shareholders, I would like to thank you for your continued loyalty to Sika and your great trust in the board of directors and the group management. We will do everything in our power to justify your trust in future. The next and 55th annual general meeting will be held on 28th of March 2023. I do hope that this next general meeting will be conducted in normal format, and I'll be able to welcome as many as you have as possible in person. I herewith declare closed the annual general meeting for 2022. I would like to thank you for your kind attention.